Some People for People Fund recipients return the kindness

It was in 2009 when the Orange County woman made a desperate call to the Times Herald-Record's People for People office.

Lisa Ramirez

It was in 2009 when the Orange County woman made a desperate call to the Times Herald-Record's People for People office.

Her story wasn't particularly memorable or even dramatic, but it was in November, just as the heating bills were starting to arrive and following several months of financial strain. Then, after she had depleted her savings and cut back on every expenditure she could, yet another bill landed in her mailbox. It was a $333 bill from the town water and sewer department. It may as well have been for a million dollars.

She called People for People, which each year helps local people when a financial emergency happens. The fund was established in 1985 to assist people who wouldn't be eligible for help from a government agency, but simply need a one-time financial boost to get them through a crisis.

A People for People volunteer guided the woman through her grant application and the fund paid the bill.

Volunteers will tell you they don't expect to hear from the people they help; the people who come to them are going through a difficult time, and their lives can be complicated. Yet, the thank-you notes are plentiful, often sent months afterward, when life is getting back to normal.

It wasn't quite two years later that the volunteers again heard from the woman with the water bill. She sent a simple note, and inside there was a check, a donation to the People for People Fund in the amount of $333.